Brentford close in on £40m Diouf deal, with £36m up front | OneFootball

Brentford are close to signing West Ham United defender El Hadji Malick Diouf in a £40m deal. The Bees will reportedly pay £36m up front on a five-year deal.

The 21-year-old has attracted interest from three Premier League clubs this summer. According to The Athletic, Brentford have made the strongest push and he is keen on joining the west London club.

West Ham are set to make a significant profit on the £19m they paid Slavia Prague last summer. Diouf registered five assists last term and impressed in a side that finished 18th.

He represented Senegal at this year’s World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations. After playing the first two games of the campaign, he was absent from West Ham’s last two matchday squads.

Keane Lewis-Potter has been Keith Andrews’ first-choice left-back, closing the 2025-26 season in that position and through pre-season. He started the Premier League opener at left-back and scored in a 3-0 win.

Lewis-Potter is a winger by trade and could revert to attack if Diouf arrives. Andrews also has Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey as left-back options, with Hickey likely to cover Michael Kayode on the opposite side.

Both Henry and Hickey have had injury issues in recent seasons, which forced Lewis-Potter to cover. Diouf would likely come in as first-choice left-back, with Henry covering, and his crossing adds another dimension to Andrews’ approach and would suit last term’s top scorer Igor Thiago.

His arrival would be Brentford’s fifth signing of the summer, after Mamadou Sangare, Jannik Schuster, Jaidon Anthony and Callum Wilson joined for around £70m combined.

Source: Hounslow Herald

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